1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a path planning apparatus and method of a robot, in which a path, along which the robot accesses an object to grasp the object, is planned.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, robots conduct operations in dangerous work conditions, simply repeated operations, and operations requiring large force on behalf of humans. Recently, these robots have been widely used in various fields, such as medical, military, aerospace, agricultural, and household fields, as well as on industrial spots.
Robots on industrial spots are widely used in a transfer field, as well as welding, assembly, painting, and inspection fields. When robots are used in the transfer field, it is important to safely and precisely grasp and transfer a target object to be transferred.
Particularly, automatic operation of a robot, which grasps an object to be transferred while avoiding collision with obstacles, is considerably important. In order to achieve the automatic operation of the robot, a process of planning a transfer path of the robot, along which the robot accesses the object to be transferred, is required.
Conventionally, the planning of the transfer path was completed by selecting the optimum grasp path, along which the robot does not collide with an obstacle, from a plurality of grasp paths having various directions.
However, since the grasp path in the above method is selected in consideration of only whether or not the robot collides with the obstacle, such a method generates a difficulty in precisely selecting the grasp path.